NEW ACADEMY TO TRAIN BOATING STUDENTS - 14th November 2007 

Thousands of students across Melbourne’s South Eastern suburbs stand to benefit from a new sailing academy to be built in Sandringham.

More than 2,000 school children from 25 local schools will participate in “Learn to Sail” classes every year and will be able to take their interest further by studying certificate courses in the marine industry at a new training facility to be built at the Sandringham Yacht Club.

The Howard Government will invest $437,500 in the new training facility. Construction of the Training Auditorium is about to begin following a ground breaking ceremony to launch the construction today.

Up to 70 school students will be able to study one day per week at the facility for a certificate course, and the academy will also offer a Tertiary Diploma in Marine Resort Management in conjunction with the local TAFE.

The Federal Minister for Vocational and Further Education, the Hon Andrew Robb AO MP took part in the ceremony with Commodore Bruce Eddington and past Commodores Kevin Wood, Philip Coombs and Geoff Henderson.

Turning the first sod on the site of the new building, Mr Robb said “This new training organisation provides our community with a wonderful opportunity to address the skills shortages we are seeing in the marine industry. Young people from the local area can now be trained on state of the art facilities, giving them a great head start towards a career in the marine industry.”

Currently there are 35,000 people working in the marine industry across Australia and if that could be doubled in the next five years it would raise the marine industries total worth to $14 billion from the current $6.8 billion turnover. Victoria currently contributes $1.7 billion to that turnover.

The training facilities will include a training auditorium seating up to 80 people, training room seating up to 16 people, store room and installation of an audio-video system. The new facility is a joint venture with the yacht club, which also commemorated the launch of construction of its new $11.75 million club house.

“We made a big mistake over the last 20 – 30 years by talking down the trades. This investment in a local training organisation will help our young people make the education choice that best suits their talents – where a high class technical or trade education is as valued as a university degree” said Mr Robb.

“Approximately 30 students annually will be able to gain vocational qualifications up to diploma level in the boating industry.”

Since 1996 the Coalition Government has invested more that $24 billion on skills and vocational education and training and will continue to invest in this important area.

But the Howard Government is doing more, including:

 Establishing a further 100 Australian Technical colleges, 30 through direct funding and a further 70 existing state or independent secondary schools being funded to convert to Australian Technical Colleges – a $2.1billion investment over 10 years.
 110,000 additional $3000 Work Skills Vouchers (to an estimated 60,000 vouchers per year) as part of providing opportunities for thousands of Australians to enter the workforce or upgrade the skills of the existing workforce, with practical and marketable skills; and
 Providing assistance to small business to train their staff through Small Business Training Vouchers – the vouchers are based on the level of matching funding provided by employers to a maximum of $1500 each.

“These new commitments build on our strong record which includes a range of incentives for apprentices such as the $2000 Apprenticeship Wage Top-Up, the $800 Tool Kit and $1000 Apprenticeship Training (Fee) Vouchers, said Mr Robb.

“We also provide employer incentives to help with the costs of training an apprentice including up to $4000 in standard commencement and completion incentives.”

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Contact: Andrew Coombe 0438777145